Stories of a snake: a collection of Adder's tales
by H.G.Wells
Summary: From the assassination of Scarface to massacres of rats, Adder made great exploits and adventure in her time. Here are some of her tales which have not yet been told.


**Stories of a snake**

**Chapter one – A thief's death**

Though the stars and moon shone in the sky, white deer park was as black as the darkest pitch. The shadows of the trees blotted out what little moonlight there was, and anything under these trees was hidden in darkness. Only the great central lake provided any light on the ground, capturing the moonlight like a giant mirror. Everything else was shrouded in black. In these conditions, a burglar could operate easily, especially if he kept under the trees.

These were perfect conditions for Boko, who happened to be a notorious burglar – though he was no human. This maniacal monkey had escaped from the zoo long ago, and had made a name for himself by stealing the eggs of birds and reptiles, as well as food from the stores of squirrels and other animals, particularly nuts. He always stored his loot in a satchel that he had stolen from humans, taking it back to his temporary dens before devouring it all greedily. He had performed successful robberies of nearly every park, farm and forest in the country, and white deer park was his newest target. The evil creature had made two previous raids here, and this was his third. He had just completed this third raid, and was now heading back to his den, where he had stored the loot from the two previous burglaries. He would eat it all in the morning – bird's eggs, snake eggs, lizard eggs, and squirrels' nuts – all of it, before moving on in search of more plunder. His mouth watered with greedy satisfaction as he looked forward to this great feast.

He swung from each tree with swiftly, so eager to get back that he seemed to forget about the need to keep silent and stealthy. No one had stopped him or prevented from entering, despite the numerous creatures in the park that could pose a danger. In a further showing of overconfidence, he then stopped on the ground near the park boundary to rest, and to look over his loot. He opened the satchel, and spoke of what he had stolen aloud.

"Owl eggs and heron eggs, my favourite! What a thief I am!"

The foolish, arrogant monkey was so pleased with himself that he did not happen to look to see if anything was coming up from behind a nearby bush. He was just about to leave when he felt a searing pain in his left leg. He howled in agony, and collapsed with a burning sensation spreading throughout his entire body. About a second after this happened he heard a harsh, hissing female voice.

"Going ssssomewhere?"

A fair sized snake then came into his field of vision, silhouetted in the faint moonlight, staring down at him. It spoke again.

"Do you know who I am?"

The wretched ape just about managed to answer. He knew who this creature was now, and this fact chilled him to the bone. He struggled to speak because of this fear, and because of the burning pain that was engulfing his entire body.

"Aren't you the famous Farthing wood adder, the one who killed that rogue fox and all those rats?"

"Yesssss, Indeed. Do you know why I am here?"

The ape was too terrified to answer.

"I know who you are. You are that monkey who believesssss he's the besssst thief in the world, who I have jusssst caught. And you have now sssstolen your last eggssss!"

Boko just managed to spit in her face.

"My venom sssshall finissssh you sssoon. You have robbed us of our eggssss and our food, and thosssse of others, and thissss is a fitting punisssshment, don't you think?"

Then Boko gave his last gasp of breath, collapsed to the ground, and knew no more. The Adder spoke on as if nothing had happened.

"I'm sssso glad you agree."

She glanced down at the lifeless body and the satchel full of loot. It was another successful kill for Adder, another well placed bite. Her ruthless killer instinct remained even after swearing the oath of mutual protection, which she was not fond of, but tolerated. Yet while her fangs were so toxic, they had done so much good for the animals of Farthing wood. From saving Vixen and the smaller animals, to killing the evil Scarface and helping drive out the rats from white deer park, Adder had grabbed many a great victory. She no longer used her hunting skills solely for killing field mice, as she had before she left Farthing wood. While she liked to maintain her harsh, cold, predatory demeanour as much as possible, and the smaller animals were frightened of her, she also had a hidden goodness which she occasionally showed. She was loyal to the oath and ideals of farthing wood, and was prepared to defend it and her fellow creatures by channelling her killer instinct against anything or anyone that was a threat. If any malevolent creature were to threaten and offend her or her fellow creatures, they would feel her bite and not survive. This quickly earned her a reputation as White deer park's most feared defender, assassin and infiltrator, and something of an anti-heroine.

"This ssstupid ape learned that the hard way", thought Adder. "Sssso did Scarface and the ratssss. Thosssse who threaten us will not essscape me. No one ssshall give us trouble. Not in my park."

Only one, very personal enemy had escaped her – Bully, the leader of the rats, who had killed her mate, Sinuous. She had come close to assassinating him many times, and even after he lost power and fled, she still had a burning desire to kill him. While the foxes repeatedly insisted that he was no longer a threat, Adder did not believe them. The only way to make certain he caused no more trouble was to end his life, as she had done with Scarface, her greatest kill that had been her greatest revenge for the loss of her tail. Bully's death would be even greater for the loss of her mate.

But that would have to wait another day. Adder had eliminated her target for tonight – the thief who had visited two nights before. She knew where he had stashed his loot – a small burrow outside the park boundary. She had patrolled this boundary, and spotted Boko coming into the park. She had determined what route he used, and had lain in wait for him near the fence which he had climbed over. She had planned to follow him to his burrow and kill him there, but the fool had stupidly stopped on the ground just near the fence, making her job easier. He would rob no more parks now.

Adder then heard a whistling sound in the air. That heron had been sent by the head fox to check if she had done the job right, as if they didn't trust her to do it properly. They clearly remembered how she had been sent to kill Scarface, but instead had killed his son. They clearly did not remember that they had simply told her to kill a blue fox, and neither Fox nor those stupid weasels had said which one. It was a botch of an operation before it had even started, and it lost Adder her tail. But of course they didn't care about what a snake had to say. At least they had told her who exactly to take out this time – the monkey had been spotted by squirrels making his second raid, and Plucky had ordered him removed.

That reminded Adder – she was to meet with Plucky at the foxes' den, once she had killed the thief. She slithered her way in that direction, her smooth, scaled body moving over grass, rock, leaves, twigs and heather with ease. She soon came to a clearing, where pale moonlight illuminated the whole scene. At one end of the clearing stood Plucky, son of Bold, and grandson of the Farthing wood fox, appointed as the new leader when his grandfather retired as leader – though like Adder, he was still one of the "First ones" – the original animals who left Farthing wood and survived the whole journey to White deer park. Those that still lived were greatly respected members of the community. But Fox was now too old to lead, and the next generation was taking over. Plucky represented that new generation – and his cubs represented the next.

Adder materialised at the opposite end of the clearing. Plucky called out to her.

"Is it done, Adder?"

"Yessss. You ssshall have no more problemssss."

The two animals moved to the centre of the clearing, facing each other. Plucky spoke again.

"Is that monkey down there?"

"Yessss. But you can't talk to him now. He can no longer ssspeak."

"What about what he stole?"

"Owl and Whistler's eggssss are in his sssatchel. You will find the ressst in a hollow jusssst outside the fence. Why did you sssend Whistler?"

"I thought you might need help..."

"I need no help! I work alone. Alwaysss have done, alwaysss will do!"

"You worked together with the foxes against the rats, and with Sinouous."

Adder's head dropped. The hint of a tear rolled from one of her eyes. Cold as she was, she could not repress her emotions forever. Plucky realised he'd gone too far.

"I'm sorry Adder. He meant a lot to you. His death was a tragedy for all of us."

"You were alwaysss a good cub Plucky. You may have wanted to help, but I can take care of myssself. I need to, if I can't have a mate like Sinououssss."

"I just hope I made the right decision by giving you this mission. Herkel and Toad wanted to try to reason with that ape."

Adder could see that Plucky was doing what young leaders normally do – questioning their decisions. That was not a useful trait – a good leader should make decisions and stick with them.

"Of courssse you made the right decissssion. That monkey was a famousss thief. He won't sssteal anymore. Actionsss speak louder than wordsss Plucky. Remember that - it's what drivessss me to do what I do."

And with that, she slithered off into the darkness. Plucky watched her leave. Adder was truly an interesting character. Fearsome and feared and sometimes even immoral she may have been, but he knew that she was at heart a good and loyal creature, for all her bitter cynicism and sarcasm. He had her to thank for his own existence, and the existence of the whole fox family – it was she who saved his grandmother from hunters during the great journey. She had saved her other fellow creatures on other occasions. The fate of the foxes was intertwined with this slithering creature, as it was with all the other Farthing wood animals. Adder was a good friend to Plucky, but he often wondered what drove her in her profession as a killer. It certainly wasn't food; she rarely ate her targets and enemies. Was it some kind of personal satisfaction, for revenge, or for simply getting the job done? Or was it because she helped protect her fellow creatures? And yet she could sometimes be so cynical with regards to the oath, while at the same time acting selflessly on some occasions. She was truly a complex character, though Plucky couldn't help but think that she felt happy in protecting and helping her fellow creatures when she needed to – even though she didn't like to admit it. What made her so vicious and cynical yet so dedicated and even noble? It was then he decided that this Adder had stories to tell and secrets to reveal - and he would ask her to tell them. Besides, the cubs would love to hear her stories.

He then remembered that the monkey's loot was still out there, and called Ranger and Charmer to recover it.


End file.
